Any American traveling in the world today will come across the Paris
Herald somewhere, though it now goes under the name the International
New York Times. Never mind, at heart it is still the Paris Herald and
traces its roots to Paris at the beginning of the 20th Century when it
was as familiar in the kiosks of the Left Bank and the Champs Elysées as
the latest article in l'Aurore by Zola or newest installment by Proust
in his never ending search for lost time.
The Paris Herald, narrative historical fiction, tells the story of
the world's most famous newspaper, focusing on the key years of the
1960s, when the fates of the newspaper and of the regime of Charles de
Gaulle became curiously intertwined.
The story centers on intrigue and rivalry among the New York Herald
Tribune, New York Times and Washington Post. When the Herald
Tribune ceased operations in New York in 1966, the Times, which had
started its own European Edition in 1960, expected the Paris Herald to
close, too, giving the Times victory in Paris as well as New York. But
Herald Tribuneowner Jock Whitney wouldn't sell to the Times,
preferring to join with Katharine Graham, who'd taken charge at the
Post after her husband's death.
Within months, the Times came, hat-in-hand, offering to close its
European edition and asking to buy into the new Herald/Post partnership.
The Times neither forgave nor forgot its humiliation.
The Paris Herald is the story of many people: of Frank Draper, who
fought in the Lincoln Brigade; Byron Hallsberg, who joined the Hungarian
uprising; Dennis Klein, researching the Nazi occupation of Paris; Suzy
de Granville, searching for family roots; Wayne Murray, escaping
homophobia; of Steve and Molly Fleming, living the high life; Sonny
Stein and Al Lodge and Connie Marshall and Ben Swart and Eddie Jones,
paperboy, all finding themselves at the Paris Herald for their own
reasons and ending up in the fight to keep the newspaper alive.
The 1960s was a tumultuous decade. The conflict in America over race and
the Vietnam War spread to Europe, setting off terrorism, riots and
revolt across the continent and threatening already shaky regimes.
Nowhere was the risk of collapse greater than in France, where the
revolt of 1968 nearly toppled the government and led to the resignation
of President Charles de Gaulle the following year. Throughout those
difficult times, the Paris Herald was at the center of events
Since being founded in 1887 by James Gordon Bennett, Jr., the Paris
Herald has been essential to American expatriate life in Europe. In
France, many Americans put down roots, married into French families and
became permanent expatriates, in some cases exiles, like Bennett
himself. The tense events of the 1960s touched the lives of every
American in Paris, including many well-known artistic exiles: James
Baldwin, Art Buchwald, William Saroyan, James Jones, Bud Powell, Dexter
Gordon, Kenny Clarke, Joe Turner, Memphis Slim.
As the crisis deepened, one shadowy man became the link between de
Gaulle and the troika of newspaper owners, Whitney, Graham and Arthur
Ochs Sulzberger. This man, Henri de Saint-Gaudens, a high French
official in the Elysée Palace, understood the Herald's historical
importance to Paris.
The Paris Herald, a novel, is riveting historical drama, as relevant
today as yesterday. It is a story never before told.
